


Under the Eclipsed Sun

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Cora [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 18:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11926359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Any, any, It is my belief that for instant relief, a hug is the best cure of all."Also written for the story_works Eclipse flash challenge.Cora, John, and Evan spend their day off watching the eclipse cycle on New Lantea.





	Under the Eclipsed Sun

**Author's Note:**

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“Daddy Daddy Daddy!”

Heads turned at the exclamation that cut over the din of the mess hall crowd. 

John looked up from his food, startled. 

Cora came trotting through the tables, artfully dodging around tray-bearing scientists and amused Marines. 

Evan, who was sitting with John, ostensibly doing double duty with a military command briefing over lunch, looked up. 

“Hey, Miss Lorne. I’m on duty right now,” he said. 

Cora skidded to a halt beside their table. “Sorry, Major Lorne.” But she looked only barely contrite, prancing in place with excitement. 

“Did you need something?” John asked. 

“Tomorrow is the total solar eclipse cycle,” Cora said. 

John thought he’d seen some mention of that on one of the base-wide emails from the science department. 

“Is it now?” Evan asked, eating his food calmly. 

A few weeks before, John would have assumed that Evan’s calm was sincere if casual interest, but now he could see the glint of amusement in Evan’s eyes. 

“New Lantea has four moons,” Cora said. “That means there will be a total eclipse  _ four times. _ Remember when we drove up to Idaho that one time to watch the total eclipse? All those colors, and the stars - it was so cool, and I barely remember it because I was super little. Can we go watch it? Tomorrow?”

“The entire eclipse cycle?” Evan asked. 

Cora nodded. 

Evan looked thoughtful. “I’d pretty much have to take the whole day off tomorrow, wouldn’t I?”

Cora bit her lip, looking nervous, but she nodded again.

“A whole day off on such short notice would be hard to swing,” Evan said. 

Cora’s expression fell, and John said quickly, “Tomorrow’s my designated Sunday,” which was true. 

Cora looked hopeful. “Would you want to watch the eclipses with me, Colonel John?”

It was her name for him when he was on duty. That way if he was off-duty and anyone heard her calling him just John it wouldn’t seem too odd.

John glanced at Evan. So far the only time he had contact with Cora alone was for guitar lessons, because so few people on base knew about their relationship, and no one wanted people thinking that John and Cora were dating.

“A total eclipse is a marvel to  behold,” Evan said. “You should go, if you want.”

“I’d like to do that,” John told Cora, and she barely suppressed a squeal of excitement. John wondered, not for the first time, if she was on coffee. Except coffee really did make her tired. Processed sugar, however, could make her talk faster than Rodney in short bursts.

“Awesome! Now I have to go see about getting a jumper and some supplies - I can fly the jumper, right? Just to the mainland. It’d be good practice. Dr. Maxwell and some of the astrophysicists figured out where on the mainland we’d get the best view, plus the comfiest campground.”

“Slow down,” John said. “Did someone give you a cookie?”

“Miko made chocolate mochi!”

“Right.” John suppressed a smile. “It sounds like you have some planning to do.”

“Planning indeed,” Evan echoed. John wondered if Cora’s running monologue was the same one that happened in Evan’s head whenever he was given a new logistics task. 

“What about you, Major Lorne?” Cora asked, still bouncing in place. “Could you come? Maybe? Please? Do I need to go beg Major Teldy to -?”

“As you might have noticed,” Evan said, “I’m on duty right now even though you assumed I was off-duty.  As it turns out, I did switch a couple of shifts with Major Teldy, so I do have tomorrow off.”

“Really? Yay!” Cora threw her arms around Evan’s neck in a hug.

He caught her, smoothed a hand up and down her back gently. “Easy there, Miss Lorne. No more chocolate mochi for you.”

She straightened up, smoothed down her uniform with shaking hands. She was literally  _ vibrating _ with excitement.

“I agree,” John said. “No more chocolate mochi for you for the rest of the week.”

“Okay. So, jumper, food, supplies -”

“All taken care of,” Evan said calmly.

“You’re the best,” Cora said. She leaned in, kissed Evan on the cheek, and then bounded away so fast John thought he could see little cartoon speed lines in her wake.

“How did you keep up with her when she was little and had even more energy?” John asked.

Evan raised his eyebrows. “Why do you think she can run a four-minute mile and crank out more push-ups than your average Marine?”

“You - you PT’d your daughter into exhaustion?”

“Make it a game, make it fun, and they’ll do it.” Evan grinned.

“So, tomorrow. The New Lantea total eclipse cycle. When were you planning on telling me?”

“Cora just did.” Evan finished his food and stood up. “See you bright and early tomorrow, sir.”

“Thanks, Major.” John watched Evan stroll away. Then he called out, “Wait, how early?”

*

Early was early, but certainly not bright. John stumbled out of bed and to his door when he heard it chime rapidly, the Atlantis equivalent of a doorbell. He was wearing his boxers and a black t-shirt and was barefoot and a little disoriented. He waved the door open.

Cora stood there, wearing a bright little sundress, sunglasses perched jauntily on her head. She was wearing sandals and carrying a wicker picnic basket and looked far too awake.

“Are you ready?”

“Ready?” John echoed.

“To go to the mainland.”

It took him a moment to catch up. “Mainland. Eclipse. Right.”

“Bring a swimsuit and your surfboard if you want,” Cora said. “I have to share Daddy’s surfboard. If I’d known, I’d have brought my own.”

“Okay. Yeah. Gimme a moment to get my stuff together.”

Cora fluttered her fingers cheerfully. “See you in the jumper bay!” She turned away, and the door slid shut behind her. At her command, not John’s.

He still wasn’t quite used to not being the Top Supergene in the city anymore, but he didn’t mind it. John shook himself out and stumbled to the bathroom, splashed some cold water on his face to wake himself up. It was still a little dark outside, but he was more lucid.

He found some clean underwear and cargo shorts, but he pulled on a pair of swim trunks, grabbed his surfboard, a tube of sunblock, and as an afterthought his guitar case. He also tucked his sunglasses into his collar and grabbed his uniform jacket to be safe. 

People stared as he headed down the hall to the transporter, but he didn’t care.

He felt better about dressing for a day at the beach when he arrived in the jumper bay and saw Evan wearing some bright-printed swim trunks and a Stanford t-shirt. He had gear loaded into the jumper, including some picnic blankets, more picnic baskets, a surfboard, some folding chairs, and a giant water cooler.

“Are we moving to the mainland?” John asked.

Evan laughed. “Pretty much. The eclipse cycle is pretty much an all-day event.”

Cora had been doing her pre-flight check, and she came bounding back to the cargo hold. “Radek let me borrow his hobby telescope we could see better. He gave me the properly-rated ISO filters and everything.”

John wasn’t quite fully awake, but he nodded. “Great.”

“Cora,” Evan said in a low voice, “go help your brother.”

“Oooh, right!” Cora scampered toward John and relieved him of his guitar case. “We can build a bonfire and sing songs. This is going to be so much fun!”

John still felt a little thrill whenever Evan referred to him as Cora’s brother. She made mention of their sibling relationship all the time when it was just the three of them in private, but Evan was more circumspect about those statements - understandable, given that John was his CO.

“So much fun,” Evan echoed faintly. “I’m going to take a couple of benadryl and sleep in the back. Wake me when we get to the mainland.” He clapped John on the shoulder.

“Sleep?” John echoed. “But we just woke up.”

Cora beamed at him. “I’m flying to the mainland, remember? I need my flight time.”

John understood why Evan had been downright alarmed when Cora first requested jumper flight training, because while she was a very eager and attentive student, she was an absolute terror in the skies. She adored speed, and she adored acrobatics, and even with the inertial dampeners John had come away from some of her practice flights feeling airsick.

“Did I agree to that?” John asked.

Cora whisked the surfboard out of his arms and trotted back onto the jumper.

“You had to have, because I never would have.” Evan swallowed a couple of pills dry and curled up on a nest of blankets in the cargo bay.

John climbed into the jumper, and the cargo bay door swung shut. He sat down in the copilot seat.

Cora chattered happily away to Amelia, who cleared them for take-off, and then they were in the air. Truth was, Cora was a very capable pilot. She mastered the basics easily. John suspected it was partially because she had such a strong Gene expression, partially because she had pilot genes in both sides of her family, and probably also because she’d been raised by Evan, who took everything he did and turned it up to eleven.

Including sleeping while his daughter was in control of any craft, or so it seemed. John glanced over his shoulder once the jumper was clear of Atlantis and on a steady course for the mainland. Evan was fast asleep, breathing deeply, looking perfectly at peace. And young. He was the same age as John, which was still weird whenever he really thought about it. But he always came across as older, because he was usually so calm and dignified.

“Does your team mind that you’re coming with us?” Cora asked. Her hands on the controls were confident.

John issued a mental command, pulled up the map. She was flying straight and everything.

“No. Teyla’s doing some eclipse thing with her people. Ronon’s been invited to some eclipse party on base. And Rodney is with the other scientists, hoping to observe something or other that has special physics significance.”

“Okay.” Cora glanced at him. “I’m super glad you brought your guitar. Having hippie campouts with Grandma, Tally, and Nan was fun when I was a kid, but unless we went with everyone on the commune, there was never any singing, because Dad sucks at singing, and no one in the family plays an instrument.”

“I don’t know that many hippie songs,” John began.

“That’s okay. I know lots and lots of Johnny Cash. Although Daddy went through this pretty embarrassing Offspring phase when I was in elementary school.”

John snorted. “The Offspring?”

“Yeah. His voice isn’t very deep. He can hit those notes like a lot of guys can’t.”

They reached the mainland in good time, and then John put up the HUD so they could find the exact coordinates that the scientists had determined would be the best eclipse viewing spot.

Cora brought the jumper down smoothly, and John was pleased. Evan came awake as soon as the jumper touched down, hopped up to his feet.

“All right, let’s make camp!”

The best eclipse viewing site was on a clean, white stretch of sand, uphill from the water. There were no tall trees or hills to obscure their view of the sky, which seemed endless from where they stood.

“It’s beautiful,” Cora said, awed.

Evan stood beside her, head tipped back, admiring the sky. Then he nudged her, and they started to unload the supplies.

It wasn’t until Cora and Evan were setting up the campsite that John realized - he’d never seen Cora offworld because she’d never been allowed offworld before, and all her previous trips to the mainland had been brief. But Evan and Cora were quick and efficient, as fast as any Marines looking to pitch camp right before dark. They worked smoothly as a team, communicating with glances and hand motions, and then they had a good space laid out. They put the picnic blankets close to each other to create a non-sandy space. Evan strategically arranged some large umbrellas to block out the worst of the sun - though the sun was just rising - and also to protect the coolers and baskets from the heat.

Cora arranged the surfboards up in the sand and set up a flat stand to put up the telescope.

John barely had to lift a finger. Every time he went to help Cora carry something or Evan move something, he felt like he was in the way, and he ended up hovering on the sidelines.

But then Cora plopped down on one of the blankets, kicked off her sandals, and grinned up at him. “Breakfast time!”

“What’s for breakfast?” John sat down beside her.

“Your favorite.” Evan flipped open one of the picnic baskets. “Orange scones and clotted cream.”

“That is my favorite,” John said. “How did you know?”

Cora smiled at her. “It’s mine, too. It was Mom’s. She told Daddy about it, so -”

“So here you go.” Evan handed John a little plate laden with several scones and a tiny pot of clotted cream.

John stared down at the plate, astonished and something else he couldn’t put a name to. Cora tucked in as soon as she had her plate, humming happily and complimenting Evan on his baking skills.

“Where did you find clotted cream?”

“Made it,” Evan said.

“But - we only have fake half-and-half to put into the coffee.” John spread some clotted cream onto one of the scones and took a bite. It tasted at least as good as he remembered it, smooth and sweet, the scone warm and flaky.

“You can make it out of milk.” Evan arranged all his scones neatly on his plate and spread even amounts of cream on each of them.

John swallowed quickly. “And you just know how to do that?”

“I learned,” Evan said. 

“For Cora?” John asked.

Cora beamed at him. “For you! Nan taught me how to make it when I was little, and Daddy always let me make it - it was my way of helping. But this time he made it.”

“Thank you,” John said quietly.

Evan shrugged. “Not a big deal. Family, right?”

The word nestled behind John’s breastbone, a tiny, fragile point of warmth. The three of them chatted casually as they ate, about their plans for the day. Cora had plans to do pretty much everything - swim, surf, build sandcastles, take pictures of the sky, look through the telescope, run some races.

“What did you plan to do with your day off?” Cora asked.

John huffed. “I’m not as young as you. I mostly planned to sleep.”

“You can nap all you want,” Evan said. “We’ve only got two surfboards between us anyway.”

“You already had a nap,” Cora said, swatting Evan on the arm playfully.

“That I did. What do you want to do first?” Evan packed away the used plates, cream pots, and silverware with an air of absentmindedness, like he barely noticed what he was doing. Clearing dishes away was just - second nature to him.

John had grown up surrounded by an army of housemaids. When he’d moved away to college, he’d had to be very conscious of bussing his tray in the cafeteria and otherwise picking up after himself. After so many years in the Air Force he was used to it, but even with Nancy, picking up around the house had always struck him as - odd. A deliberate act that required effort and concentration.

Cora moved to help him, though she only managed to scoop up a couple of dishes before Evan was finished. 

“Sandcastles,” she said. “We need to have a sandcastle competition.”

John blinked. “Sand castles?”

Cora cocked her head. “You’ve never built one?”

“No, I mean yes, Dave and I used to build them all the time. Mom took us to Virginia Beach in the summers. That was where we learned how to surf. Just - usually we had tools. And usually we didn’t compete.”

Cora beamed. “I know.” She turned and flipped open one of the baskets - and drew out a set of bright plastic sand toys - little spades and buckets, rakes and trowels. “So let’s build.”

“What are the rules for the contest?” John asked. “Time limits, anything?”

Cora glanced at her watch. “One hour. By then our food should be digested, and we can go swim. Go!” And she snatched up a bucket and dashed down the beach to the water.

“Where is she going?” John asked.

But Evan was already on his feet after her. “Cheater!” Only his voice was full of laughter, and John felt like he’d missed some inside joke.

But then he scooped up a small shovel and trudged a few feet away from the blankets, set about building a foundation. Evan and Cora returned with buckets full of water and immediately set about wetting down workspaces. Cora filled her bucket with sand, used a trowel to pack the sand down as tightly as possible, and began constructing towers with bucketfuls of sand she used as blocks.

Evan, by contrast, was building a veritable mountain of sand, packing it tightly with his hands, the way John had as a child when making a snow fort for snowball fights.

“Really, Daddy?” Cora asked. She clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “You’re so predictable.”

“I do what works,” Evan said loftily. “What about you, John? What’s your method?”

“For building sandcastles?” John hadn’t built one since he was a little kid. 

Cora said, “I build rough towers and then shape. Daddy, though, he treats it like it’s a sculpture. Makes a big ole block and carves down from there.”

“Because making a sandcastle is an art.”

“It’s a science,” Cora shot back.

John gestured vaguely. “I just - build.”

“Good luck.” Evan continued to build his mountain.

John managed a passable foundation, some walls, and a central keep. Cora already had an outer wall, corner towers, and a central keep built. Evan had finally smoothed out his mountain.

Cora glanced pointedly at her watch and said, “Tick tock!”

“How much time do we have left?” John asked.

“Forty-five minutes.” Cora smiled and kept on working.

John focused on smoothing down the walls without thinning them down. Cora was carving windows into her towers. Evan snagged the trowel and was starting to use it to carve.

Cora started to hum as she worked. It took John a moment before he recognized the tune. Kingston Trio. Where Have All The Flowers Gone. He started to hum along.

“Thought you said you didn’t know any hippie songs,” Evan drawled.

Cora stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re just jealous because you can’t sing along.”

“Maybe a little bit,” Evan admitted.

John thought his castle looked pretty good - stable structure, smooth walls - and then he looked over at what Cora was doing and saw that her castle had actual bricks delineated in the walls and crenellations along the tops of the towers and walls. He figured he could manage that, so he borrowed the trowel from Evan to carve brick lines in the walls.

And then he really  _ looked _ at what Evan was making. “Is that the  _ Taj Majal?” _

“That’s not a sandcastle, that’s a sand mausoleum,” Cora said.

“But it looks awesome.” Evan smirked. “Besides, last time we did this, you made Hatshepsut’s Temple and made me look like a chump.”

“Fine, fine.” Cora rolled her eyes.

John knew there was no way he could win, so he finished as best as he could and then set about scrubbing on some sunblock, because the sun was climbing higher and higher in the sky. There wasn’t a single cloud, and John knew that the eclipses were going to be amazing.

He ended up borrowing Cora’s watch and calling time on the competitors, and when it reached the last ten seconds, he did a formal countdown.

As it turned out, Cora hadn’t made any old castle but the Neuschwanstein Castle, the one Sleeping Beauty’s was modeled after.

“I am so out of my league,” he said.

Cora pressed a kiss to his cheek. “That’s okay. It’s all in fun. Now come on! It’s picture time.”

“Picture time?” John asked.

Cora waggled a very expensive-looking camera. They had a photoshoot, each of them posing with their own castles, a picture of each castle alone, a picture of all three castles, and then a picture of all three castles and their builders. Then Cora set the camera in its bag on the blanket.

“Now for the fun part.”

“Fun part?” John echoed.

Cora let out a ferocious roar and leapt at her castle, knocking it down. For a moment, John was horrified at the destruction, but then Evan was wading through his own castle, and Cora tried to tackle him further into his castle, and John couldn’t help it - he joined in. There were imitations of Godzilla and Mothra and giant Japanese robots, and when the castles were all flattened, they flopped down in the sand, breathless and laughing.

“You know what’s next?” Cora asked.

“What?” John asked.

Cora stripped off her little sundress. Underneath she was wearing a bright pink swimsuit and some little board shorts. “Swimming, to get the sand off!” And she scampered down to the water.

“Wait!” Evan called after her. “Sunblock!” He waved a tube at her.

Cora, who’d only managed to splash around a couple of times, came trotting obediently back up the sand. Evan squeezed a dollop onto his hand, then handed the tube to her. Cora set about scrubbing up. She got Evan’s back, and he got hers, and then Evan offered John a hand.

“Ready to hit the water?”

“Yeah.”

After the sandcastle Godzilla antics, John wasn’t sure what to expect in the water - some kind of epic splash fight? Attempts to yank each other under the water? But Cora just splashed around in the waves and Evan paddled farther out where the water was a little calmer, flipped onto his back, and floated, eyes closed, basking in the sun.

The water was cool but not cold, pleasant. John ended up body surfing in the waves, trying to get a sense of their rhythm before he took his board out. John had just about figured out the rhythm when Cora popped out of the water, waving one arm to flag her father down.

“Come on, it’s almost time!”

Evan began swimming back in. He had broad, powerful strokes, cutting through the water like someone born to it. Cora reached the sand first, shook herself out like a dog so her hair was wild and spiky around her face. Then she pelted up the sand, grabbing her camera and kneeling beside the telescope. John watched, amused, as Evan reached the sand and also shook himself out like a dog, his hair unbelievably wild.

“Jeez, it’s noticeably cooler than it was.” Evan chafed his hands, peered up at the sky. Then he looked down at the sand. “Oh, wow. Look at the shadows.” He held his hand out, waved it back and forth. “That’s kind of amazing.”

John hadn’t thought to look at the shadows, but he realized they were fuzzy and strange, indistinct around the edges, like there were multiple sources of light instead of just one. The next time he went to a planet with multiple suns, he would have to see what the shadows looked like. 

Cora beckoned. She had her camera aligned with the telescope so they could all see. John hadn’t noticed that the first eclipse was coming mostly because he didn’t really look up at the sky during the day, being indoors in the city most of the time, hadn’t realized that the sun wasn’t as bright as it ought to. He and Evan crouched behind her so they could see the camera display.

John held his breath as the first moon slid fully in front of the sun, blacking it out almost completely but for a hair’s breadth of light all around the circumference.

“Oh wow,” Cora breathed.

They all gazed at the viewfinder for a minute, Cora clicking away and taking photos, and then the moon started to slide, and the light started to grow again.

Cora sank back on her haunches, reached out and curled her hand through Evan’s. “That was amazing. And I got some really cool photos, so that’s going to be great.” She squeezed Evan’s hand. “Thanks, Daddy. And you too, John.” She patted John’s hand.

“What next?” John asked, while Cora put her camera away.

“Surfing,” Cora said decisively. “Unless you need a break?”

“Surfing is good.” John smiled at her.

“Take my board and go,” Evan said. “I need a rest. I’m old.”

“You’re younger than me,” John said.

“Cora’s aged me beyond my years.” Evan sprawled out on one of the blankets, carefully beneath an umbrella, and closed his eyes. “I need my nap.”

Cora prodded him in the ribs. “You had a nap this morning.”

“And I’m taking another one now.”

“Fine. Daddy’s being boring. C’mon, John.” Cora got to her feet and plucked Evan’s board out of the sand. 

John grabbed his own board, and together they headed down to the water. It had been so long since he’d ridden the waves. After some body-surfing, he was pretty sure he knew the rhythm and temper of the water, and he was looking forward to the sensation, the freedom, the rush. It was different from flying. Better, in its own way. More primal, more basic. A way to feel grounded and a way to feel liberated, all at once.

But he waited on the shore, watched Cora paddle out, hop up onto her board and wait to catch a wave. She was good, patient, chose well. Made good speed to meet the wave. Popped up, had a good stance. Natural balance. She rode well, obviously had a lot of experience. But then she and Evan were from California, weren’t they? John glanced over his shoulder. Evan was awake, sitting up, with a sketchbook across his knees, working. Had his need for a nap been a ruse, or had he just abandoned the nap when he couldn’t sleep?

No matter. It was their day off. They could do whatever they wanted. John paddled out to the waves, and it was bliss. Calm. Relaxation. Control.

The different cycles of the eclipse weren’t evenly spaced. When John tired out, he just sprawled out on his board and closed his eyes under the not-quite-bright sun. He was awakened by laughter, Cora’s and Evan’s, and when he sat up, he saw Cora and Evan tussling over the board. Evan won, climbed on, paddled away before Cora could catch his ankle and drag him off of it.

John watched him ride. Evan rode hard, aggressive, hot-dogging, grinning fiercely. Unlike Cora, he’d probably grown up beside the beach, riding every day. Cora treaded water, watching him ride. Then she began to paddle hard toward the shore, and John realized - Evan was about to wipe out, and Cora planned on sharking the board from him.

Evan and Cora tussled back and forth for possession of the board, but eventually Cora gave in and let him use it. She swam back to shore and shook herself out, took off her shorts and laid them out to dry, then sat down on one of the blankets.

“John!” she called. “Can I borrow your guitar?”

He nodded and flashed her a thumb’s up. They’d started guitar lessons almost immediately, and so far she’d mastered the art of four chords and power chords, so she could play pretty much any pop or rock song. She opened the case, paused, dried her legs off with a corner of the blanket, and then tugged the guitar onto her lap.

John paddled out beside Evan, sat up on his board.

“So, Lorne, let’s see what you got.”

Evan arched an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”

“Next wave. Race you.”

“You’re on.”

They both turned, gazed out at the ocean. John wondered what the eclipse was doing to the tides. They watched the water swell, build, and Evan sank forward onto his belly, began paddling fiercely. John started paddling as well, going faster, faster. He was there, it was almost time, he had to pop up -

Evan was on his feet and zooming past him, whooping wildly.

John, half on his feet, nearly wiped out. The look Evan cast him was pure defiance. John growled and paddled hard, caught the wave again, popped up onto his feet. But Evan was carving neatly, catching each wave as it came into the shore, and John had no hope of catching up.

Evan wiped out first because he rode so aggressively, and when John finally caught up to him on the shore, Evan grinned at him and said, 

“So, what’s my prize?”

“Why do you think you deserve a prize?”

“Because I won the race.”

John glanced at Cora, who was still plucking idly at his guitar. “What kind of prize does he deserve?”

Cora grinned at him and began to strum, a familiar four-chord progression. And she began to sing, her voice light and clear, so much like John’s mother’s.

_ “I’ll relate this little bit _ __  
_ Happens more than I like to admit _ __  
_ Late at night she knocks on my door _ _  
_ __ She’s drunk again and lookin’ to score.”

It took John a moment to recognize the song, but then she held the guitar out to him, and he began to play the opening riff, and Cora moved back to the beginning of the song.

Evan laughed. “All right, all right,  _ fine.” _ But he joined in as well.

It had been too damn long since John had had a family sing-along, and he’d missed it. Cora hadn’t been kidding - Evan was a pretty terrible singer. He didn’t sing so much as verbally creak. John had heard the term  _ atonal _ but never actually witnessed it. But Cora and Evan slung their arms around each other, swaying to the music. John found himself swaying with them, and for the first time, John felt like they were  _ one.  _ Were  _ family  _ in a way he’d mostly only felt with his team _. _ But it felt different, too. Because when he looked at Cora he saw parts of himself and parts of his mother, but he saw parts of Evan, too.

They drifted into other songs, the full version of Where Have All The Flowers Gone, and Tom Dooley, and Ghost Riders in the Sky, and A Boy Named Sue.

Cora cleared her throat. “What was Mom’s favorite song?”

John paused. “Well - she liked Danny Boy, except it was always either Davey Boy or Johnny Boy.” He played arpeggiated chords, humming the tune. “When we were sick, though, she’d sing us this song.” And he changed to a different riff.  _ “So you think - so you think you can tell -” _

Cora joined in.  _ “Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.” _

Evan said, “When she was holding you. In the hospital. That was the song she sang to you.”

Cora paused. “You never told me that.”

Evan blinked rapidly. “I didn’t remember till now. But you sound -”

“Just like her,” John said.

“Oh,” Cora said in a small voice. “Does it - is it awkward when I sing?”

“No, not at all,” John said. “Your voice is beautiful.”

Cora blushed. “Thanks.” And then her watch beeped. “Quick, quick, the next moon’s almost in place. It’s picture time!”

“We took pictures of the eclipse last time,” John protested.

“Right. This time, we’re taking pictures of us! You’re up first, Daddy.” Cora scrambled for her camera. 

The next few moments were a flurry of confusion while Cora posed them underneath the eclipse, either looking at the camera or up at the sky. Cora photographed both Evan and John, and Evan photographed Cora. While they were taking pictures, John put on his Kusanagi-made eclipse sunglasses and watched the sky.

And then he realized - he could see the  _ stars. _

“Wow,” he breathed.

Cora set the camera aside and stepped close to him, tucked herself against his side the way she did with Evan all the time. “It’s incredible, isn’t it?”

John nodded.

“Watching the eclipse with Daddy is one of my earliest memories,” Cora said softly. “He was a good dad, always, but a lot of the time Grandma and Nan and Aunt Tally didn’t trust him alone with me. Not because he ever hurt me, but because he was a boy and I was a girl and they thought he’d - I don’t know.  _ Ruin _ me. More old-fashioned mores kicking around on a hippie commune than you think. So one day he kidnapped me. Woke me up while it was still dark, bundled me into his crappy yellow pick-up truck with a blanket and a big picnic basket and we drove and drove and drove out to the middle of nowhere. We played and we colored, and when the eclipse came, he gave me these glasses he’d made himself, and it was like magic. Grandma and Nan and Aunt Tally were  _ so mad _ when we got home, yelled at him so much. But we had so much fun.” Cora curled her hand around his arm and smiled up at him. “Are you having fun?”

“Yeah, kiddo,” John said, swallowing down the lump in his throat. “I’m having fun.”

Then the ultimate moment of the second phase of the eclipse cycle was over, and Evan packed up Cora’s camera.

“What’s your earliest memory?” Cora asked.

“Meeting my brother at the hospital,” John said. He sat down on the towel, and Cora sat down beside him. “I was just turned four, I think. Mom was holding Dave, and the nurses fretted forever before they let me in to see her and him. Mom looked - exhausted. Sweaty. Hair all messed up. But glowing. Beautiful. She had this tiny bundle in her arms, and she held him out for me to see. And she said  _ This is your little brother, Johnny Boy. You have to protect him and love him, okay?” _

“That’s very sweet,” Cora said. 

“What about you, Evan?” John asked. “What’s your earliest memory?”

He was quiet, brow furrowed, blue eyes pensive. “Painting with my mom. I don’t know how old I was. But we were sitting on a beach like this, and I was sitting on her lap, and she was holding my hand, dipping my fingers into paint, swirling them on a canvas. It was like magic. Something was coming to life. I don’t know what. But it was amazing.” Then he smiled at Cora. “The first time you ever painted with me, you painted, well, me. Didn’t look anything like me, but you insisted it was me.”

John frowned. “Wait. That finger painting. That looks like a mud ball with blue spots. The one you have hanging behind your desk?”

Evan nodded.

“That’s Cora’s?”

“I’ve improved over the years,” she said loftily. She nudged John. “What was the first song you ever learned to play?”

“On the piano, actually,” John said. “Mom played the piano. Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars. Or the ABC song, depending on who you ask.”

“In the meantime,” Evan said, “more food. It’s lunch time.”

Cora lit up, went to pounce on one of the picnic baskets. “Which one?”

Evan pointed. Cora immediately began digging in.

“What’s in the coolers?” John asked.

“One’s water, one’s Gatorade.”

John nodded wisely.

Cora made a joyful sound and kissed Evan on the cheek. “You made kolaches! My favorite. How?”

“Recipe from Radek’s grandmother, plus an extra-special shipment.” Evan smiled. 

John was sensing a theme. “What’s for dinner?”

“You’ll see.” Evan handed John a plate and a cup.

John knew what Kolaches were, had had some in Prague once when he accompanied his father on a business trip, but it had been a long time. John served himself a cup of Gatorade. Then he settled into one of the little camp chairs and bit cautiously into a kolache. The flavor was savory, subtle. John wasn’t enough of a cooking or baking aficionado to be able to identify every single note that hit his tongue, but it was good.

“Tastes good,” John said. 

“I try.”

Cora kissed Evan on the cheek again.

They ate in companionable silence. John asked Cora how her internship was going, how her classes were going. She chattered cheerfully about learning to improvise explosives from Dr. Dia Maxwell and Lt. Laura Cadman. Miko was teaching her to speak Japanese - little Tokyo back home had some of the cutest boutiques - and she was pretty sure she and Dr. Ambrose had found an Ancient device that was some kind of music player. They hadn’t been able to activate it yet, but the chance to listen to Ancient music would be huge.

“It could be terrible-sounding,” Evan said. “SG-1 was on that one mission where that one alien from a silicon-based race was trying to terraform a populated planet to restart the alien race. He’d been human-formed to contact the natives, and when he accessed the art and culture he was trying to resurrect, it was...horrible.”

“I think the Ancients are enough like us, biologically-speaking, that they probably listen to similar-sounding music,” Cora ventured. “They were the forerunners of the Romans, right? The Etruscans?”

Evan arched an eyebrow. “You saying you’ve never heard music produced by other humans that isn’t terrible-sounding?”

“Point,” Cora said.

It wasn’t that John never had conversations like this, with his team or other people on base, but for some reason with Cora and Evan, it was different. Maybe because he kept being surprised by the things they had in common, the similarities. And he kept being startled by the way Evan and Cora used the same small phrases, intonations on certain words. He was even more surprised when Cora sounded like  _ him. _

The third cycle of the eclipse came upon them pretty quickly, and this time Cora arranged for group photos of the three of them under the eclipsed sun. They posed, arms around each other, in groups of two and of course three.

Once the total eclipse was finished, John grabbed himself another cup of Gatorade. “What’s the plan for the fourth stage of the cycle?”

“We have sunglasses,” Cora said, “and we just watch.”

John nodded.

“But before then, more water.” Cora plucked Evan’s surfboard out of the sand and headed back down to the waves.

“What about you?” John asked.

Evan hefted his sketchbook. “Drawing. You?”

John contemplated for a bit, then reached for his guitar. “This.”

“Listening to music when I draw is nice,” Evan said quietly.

John nodded and began to pick out a tune. 

Evan worked in silence, fancy pencils spread out on the blanket beside him. His unwavering focus was impressive. John had always assumed that Evan was some kind of epic multitasker, with how much he took care of on base. But apparently Evan could laser-focus in a way John had always associated with Rodney and some of the other scientists. Given freedom and time, would Evan skip meals and ignore sunlight in the pursuit of art?

Eventually, the fourth eclipse cycle was upon them. Cora returned from her stint on the waves, planted the board upright on the sand, and plopped down on the blanket between them. She handed out eclipse glasses and tugged both men closer to her.

“Snuggle in,” she insisted.

Evan did so without hesitation. He’d probably done it a thousand times. John knew they wanted him to be part of their family, that they welcomed him without question, but -

Cora rested her head on his shoulder. “Here it comes.”

It was amazing. Pictures didn’t do it justice. For one moment, the moon and sun were one, day was night, and there were stars. Maybe it was just John’s imagination, but the waves were silent, and the world was still, and the sky was colors John had never seen. He’d seen Aurora Borealis. He’d seen the colors of hyperspace. This was something else. 

When it was finally finished, John set his glasses aside and watched the colors of the New Lantea sunset. 

True to Cora’s plans, they built a bonfire for the darkness, roasted marshmallows and made s’mores, and had supper. Apparently Evan’s favorite dinner was none other than peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

“How  _ old _ are you?” John asked.

“Old enough to exercise my adult right to eat whatever I want for dinner.” Evan smirked and bit into his sandwich.

Cora laughed. “Once a week, when I was a kid, Daddy let me have whatever I wanted for dinner. No rules, no limits. Breakfast for dinner. Junk food. Dessert. Endless candy. Once I hit about, I don’t know, ten? I stopped going for wild stuff. It was an excuse to just not cook, really. But it was fun. Apparently Daddy never gave up the tradition.”

“Nope,” Evan said, shameless.

“Now that we have a campfire,” John said, “isn’t this the part where we sing?”

“Military campfire songs?” Evan asked. “Never was a scout.”

“Got any more hippie songs?” Cora asked.

“Got some John Denver.”

Cora immediately began to sway and hum Annie’s Song. John picked up the tune, and Cora began to swing, and Evan used the guitar case to provide percussion, and they were working as one. They sang together till the fire died down and the stars were bright overhead.

“Do we have to go back?” Cora sighed and tugged on her little sundress and then John’s jacket, because it was chilly next to the water.

“Duty calls,” Evan said ruefully. He fetched some work lights from the back of the jumper so they could pack up their supplies. 

They worked as a team, the three of them, a light-footed dance in the shadows and sand. Evan actually assented to sitting beside Cora while she piloted the jumper back to Atlantis. They landed in the jumper bay, and some of Lorne’s team were present to help unload the supplies.

Cora helped John carry his surfboard and guitar back to his quarters. 

“Thanks for coming with us, Colonel John,” she said. She started to walk away, then paused, hurried back. “I almost forgot! Thanks for letting me borrow your jacket. Daddy was silly and forgot his. Also he just doesn’t get cold. It’s unnatural.” She shrugged off the jacket, handed it to him, pressed a kiss to his cheek, and then scampered away.

“You’re welcome,” John called after belatedly, and headed into his quarters.

He rinsed off the sand and sun and copious amounts of sunblock, and he was just toweling off his hair when his door slid open.

“How was your little family get-together?” Rodney asked.

“Yes, Rodney, you’re so very welcome in my quarters. And our picnic and day out was fine,” John said patiently. “How was  _ your _ day?”

“Fine. Very fine,” Rodney said. “Teyla’s still with her people doing Athosian eclipse whatever. And Ronon hasn’t been seen since he accompanied Dr. Maxwell back to her quarters for some post-eclipse debriefing.”

John blinked. “Well, good for Ronon.”

“Lunar eclipse is coming up in a few weeks, or so Astronomy says,” Rodney said. “You, um, you want to do something together?”

“...Are you asking me out on a date?”

“What? No! I just - thought it would be nice for us all to hang out. As a team. For the event.”

John studied him for a long moment. And then he realized. “You’re jealous!”

High color rose in Rodney’s cheeks. “What? No!”

“Yes you are! It’s all over your face.”

“It’s just - ever since you found out Cora’s your sister and Evan’s your step-dad, you’ve been hanging out with them all the time.”

“I’m sure Evan and Cora would be fine with you hanging out with us,” John said. He eyed Rodney some more. “But you want some time with just the team?”

“Maybe,” Rodney muttered.

“We can arrange that. Cora and Evan won’t mind.” 

“Why would they?” Rodney demanded. “We - we saw you first.”

“It’s not a contest,” John said. “So, now that we’ve talked about  _ feelings, _ what’s up?”

“We did not talk about  _ feelings.”  _ Rodney’s expression was indignant. But at John’s raised eyebrow, he plopped down on the bed and flipped open his datapad. “Check it out. We got some good images of the eclipse, and I think the coronal ejections might not be completely random.”

John sat down beside him and let Rodney’s familiar voice wash over him.

*

Because Evan had rearranged some shifts with Teldy to be able to take the eclipse off, there was a lot of catching up for him to do, and John didn’t see him all the next day. He only saw Cora briefly, but every time she saw him, she smiled, and once she told him that she hoped to have her pictures done soon, and she’d send them to him.

“No rush,” John told her.

“I know, but they look awesome. You’ll love them!” Cora fluttered her fingers at him and then hurried to answer a summons from Dr. Maxwell.

John watched her go and continued to marvel at her energy. He’d never had that energy growing up, and neither had his mother, that he recalled. Had Evan?

And then he heard, at the next table over, a couple of new Marines talking.

“Cora Lorne, the intern? Saw her walking with the Colonel back to his place last night. She was wearing his uniform jacket over this cute little sundress.”

“I saw that sundress. It was very cute.”

“Bet the bikini underneath was  _ hot.” _

“Heck yeah.  _ I _ heard that Major Lorne was, you know,  _ chaperoning _ the Colonel on his date with Intern Lorne.”

“Chaperoning? Please. The Colonel’s Major Lorne’s CO. Lorne can’t refuse him  _ anything.” _

“Not even his own daughter?”

“Might be good for the Major. You know. Marrying up, as it were.”

“Even if he doesn’t  _ marry  _ her -”

John went from calm to furious in an instant. Suddenly he completely understood how furious Evan had been at Rodney.

_ “Marines,” _ he snapped.

They both shot out of their chairs and spun around.

“Sir,” one of them began.

_ “Do not _ speak of either Major Lorne or Miss Lorne in such a fashion ever again, am I clear?”

They exchanged nervous looks. 

“But sir, you have to admit, Miss Lorne is really hot -”

“She’s my sister.” The words spilled out before John could stop them. 

It shut the Marines up damn fast and made them look even more terrified. And then one of them said,

“Wait, but Miss Lorne is Major Lorne’s daughter, and he’s the same age as you, sir.”

And the other one’s eyes lit up. “If he’s not your dad, then your mom -”

The first one snickered.  _ “Your mom.” _

“Drop and give me fifty,” John snapped.

The two Marines stared at him.

“I said  _ drop.” _

And they obeyed.

John, heart sinking, tapped his radio. “Control, get me Major Lorne.”

Evan arrived in under two minutes. “Colonel Sheppard, sit rep?”

The two Marines were still counting out their push-ups.  _ Thirty-one! Thirty-two! _

“These two lance corporals were under the impression that our day of libo yesterday was some kind of highly inappropriate power-brokering.”

Evan came up short. “Sir?”

“Want to tell him, Marines? What you said about his daughter?”

Evan’s expression was dangerously blank.  _ “What _ about Cora?”

_ Forty-five! Forty-six! _

“Marines,” John said, “Major Lorne asked you a question.”

They finished their push-ups and hopped to their feet, at attention.

Evan prowled closer to both of them. “What did you say to Colonel Sheppard about my little girl?”

“Is it true, sir?” one of them asked.

The other one said, “Is your little girl really the Colonel’s sister?”

Evan’s expression remained blank, but he darted a glance at John, who grimaced apologetically.

“Our familial relationship is irrelevant to your discipline,” Evan said.

John knew everyone was watching, that plenty of people were listening in. 

“Any Marine who makes inappropriate comments about any member of this base’s personnel, civilian or military, is subject to the strictest discipline. We’re a team out here in Pegasus,” Evan said. “We have to trust each other and respect each other so when it gets tough out there, we know we can count on each other. Can I count on you? Can Colonel Sheppard count on you? Can  _ Cora _ count on you?”

The two Marines exchanged nervous looks.

Now everyone was listening in.

“You will apologize to Colonel Sheppard, and you will apologize to Miss Lorne, and then you will pack your bags and be ready to ship out with the  _ Daedalus _ when it next returns.”

John blinked. “Lorne,” he said, low enough that no one else but the two Marines could hear, “over a comment about your daughter?”

“Surely not just my daughter,” Evan said, just as quietly. “Fifty push-ups?”

“It was reflexive.”

“Now you know how I feel.”

“Little bit.”

Evan’s expression turned thoughtful. He turned back to the two Marines. “If you wish to remain on Atlantis, in addition to issuing those apologies, you will spend the next six weeks running gate team boot camp for all of the civilian personnel. The choice is yours.”

The two Marines exchanged nervous looks again.

“Gate team boot camp, sir,” the first one said.

“Get those apologies on my desk in the next twenty-nine hours,” Evan said. “Dismissed.”

The two Marines fled.

John and Evan watched them go. 

“The whole base will know by the next shift change,” Evan said softly. “Heightmeyer’s probably already trying to get on our calendars now.”

“And yesterday was such a good day.” John sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What do we do?”

“Act like nothing’s changed. It hasn’t. You’re still the base commander, I’m still your XO, and Cora’s still a valuable asset to the science department, as much as it pains me to admit it anywhere Rodney might learn of it.”

But things definitely had changed. John noticed the sidelong glances people cast him for the rest of the shift. He hoped no one was saying anything cruel to Cora. As it turned out, no one was saying anything bad to Evan. Apparently most of the Marines were approving of Evan’s former cougar-bait glory days.

By the end of the day, John was exhausted and twitchy, had a constant itching sensation between his shoulderblades, like when people were staring at him. He retreated to his quarters. Apparently Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla had been fielding subtle and unsubtle inquiries about the Lorne-Sheppard family connection, and Ronon had taken to outright growling at anyone who even came near him. Rodney was barricaded in his room, and Teyla’s patient rebuffs were becoming less patient as she valiantly tried to defend John’s privacy.

John had just sunk down on his bed and reached for his copy of  _ War and Peace _ when his door opened, and Cora came in. She plopped down beside him and slumped against him, her head on his shoulder.

“People are stupid,” she said.

John sighed. “Yes they are.”

“Mom was already divorced from your dad.”

“That she was.”

“Dad was just trying to do a nice thing.”

John glanced down at her. “He ended up doing an amazing thing.” Then he cleared his throat and added, “It is my belief that for instant relief, a hug is the best cure of all.”

Cora peered up at him. “That’s kinda sentimental, coming from you.”

“Mom used to say it.”

“Well, she was right.” Cora wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. “You know you can hug me any time you want, now.”

“Yeah, I can.”

“You can hug me before you go through the gate, like Daddy does.”

“I’m not your dad.”

Cora squeezed him again. “You’re my big brother. I always wanted a big brother.”

“Now you have two.”

“Hopefully I can meet him soon?” Cora gazed up at him hopefully.

“We’ll work something out,” John promised.

“By the way.” Cora straightened up, reached into her pocket, drew out a little flash drive. “Got those pictures all finished up.”

“How did they turn out?”

“Really, really good.” Cora smiled at him. She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and then stood up. “See you tomorrow. We can face this together.”

John nodded. “Thanks, Cora.” He showed her to his door, then went to sit in front of his laptop, check the pictures.

Cora hadn’t been kidding. They’d turned out really well. She’d gotten excellent pictures of the eclipse itself. The pictures of the sandcastles were bright. John’s sandcastle really was pathetic compared to theirs, but they all looked so happy. Someone had taken pictures of John and Cora surfing, and playing guitar, and sitting around the bonfire. The three of them under the eclipsed sun looked like a family, all dark-haired and bright-eyed and smiling.

There was one more picture at the end, not a photograph of them but a photograph of a drawing. From a sketchbook.

John’s breath caught in his throat. It was a drawing of a family that could never have existed. John and Evan, sixteen years old. Cora, a little girl tucked between them. And John and Cora’s mother, standing with them, looking just as John remembered her from the last time he saw her alive.

Cora was right. Tomorrow they’d all face this change together.


End file.
